THE spring and summer of 2020 was an interesting time to rove about with a camera. The Great Infection set in in March, and I limited myself to pacing around the apartment like a caged leopard in April. In May and June, the only camera foraging I did was in the neighborhoods surrounding my home in Little Neck, so that pretty much meant Little Neck, Douglaston and Bayside. Beginning in June I expanded things into northwest Queens, with a Long Island Rail Road ride to Woodside, and then in July, I resumed operations in Manhattan and elsewhere. Oddly enough the most deserted streets I ever experienced during this time were in midtown Manhattan in July 2020, as chronicled in FNY’s 34th Street Crosstown page. Though big crowds were hard to find, I saw that life went on in the so-called “outer boroughs”. Just to be safer than sorrier (to date I never caught Covid), I sported a paper mask outside during this time, though I don’t remember precisely when I gave them up. I still have a few dozen at the ready on my bedroom chest of drawers.
Here’s a shot I fired off at Newtown Avenue at 31st Street in Astoria in June 2020. The Astoria elevated (N/W trains) runs above 31st Street at Newtown Avenue. The line, which opened in the late 19-teens, celebrated its centennial by receiving new state of the art stations beginning in 2017. This was part of a series I did that year chronicling the colonial-era Hellgate Ferry Road, which is still largely in existence in Queens and comprises Newtown Avenue, 30th Avenue, Newtown Road, Woodside Avenue and part of Broadway in Elmhurst.
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6/26/26